Britain claims back control over fishing rights

Britain will exit not only the European Union, but also the earlier London Convention it had struck with some European countries on allowing foreign fishermen access to each others’ waters, in another sign that the island nation is reassessing its international cooperation.

“Leaving the London Fisheries Convention is an important moment as we take back control of our fishing policy,” U.K. Environment Minister Michael Gove said in a statement on Sunday. “It means for the first time in more than 50 years we will be able to decide who can access our waters.”

The exit from the London Convention takes two years, the same amount of time as leaving the European Union.

Fishing boats from France, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands — the other signatories to the convention — catch roughly 10,000 tonnes of fish annually within 12 miles of the British coast, and this access will have to be renegotiated after the British exit, along with Brits’ access to the waters of its neighbors.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, dismissed Gove’s statement in a tweet on Sunday night, saying the London Convention had in any case been “superseded” by the EU Common Fisheries Policy.

Gove’s intentions seem to be as much to send a political signal here as to set future policy.

Fishing for Leave, a prominent pro-Brexit fisheries group, said in February that leaving the London Fisheries Convention was an acid test of the government’s appetite for really taking back control of British waters. It pointed out that although the CFP governs shared fishing rights at the moment, without leaving the older LFC too, British fishermen would still have to share its waters with neighbors.

By giving the mandatory two-year notice to leave the LFC, Gove appears to be angling for a clean break from international fisheries obligations — and to be handing Brexiteer fishermen exactly what they want.

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MLB

That seems very reasonable. Well UK is leaving the EU, and even though it is not under EU agreements.
It is a good opportunity to start from scratch.
Very happy to hear this.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 12:36 PM CET

Dee

This is good news for our fishing industry and the environment and health of our seas & fish stocks.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 1:10 PM CET

Elena Adaal

Totally sure that all the fish will respect the borders and not swim where they like

Posted on 7/2/17 | 1:31 PM CET

Justice

This is great news for the fishing industry in Britain but no so great for EU pirates whose flotilla of pirate fishing vessels plunder British waters everyday while flying EU pirate flags

No so good for delusional little Europeaners either who keep saying the UK will be worse off by leaving the EU

Posted on 7/2/17 | 1:40 PM CET

EU

Good thinking Justice 🙂 just one small question , where are you going to export those fish ? not likely to delusional little Europeaners.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 1:55 PM CET

Kerv

this calls for RETALIATION.
burning international treaties without prior consultation cannot bring good will

Posted on 7/2/17 | 2:02 PM CET

MGR

time for france to withdraw from le touquet agreement

Posted on 7/2/17 | 2:12 PM CET

That's right

Gove is another buffoon. This story is so stupid… pure propaganda

Posted on 7/2/17 | 2:20 PM CET

Nonsense

Only 1.4% of fish in UK waters is being caught by foreign fishermen.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 2:26 PM CET

DJSmith

Good. The revolting Ted Heath sold our smaller boat fishermen down the river back in the 1970. He destroyed coastal communities, and cast-aside the lives of working-class families who had fished our waters for centuries.

The EU “rules” have been a disaster for British working-class folks. Of course, the elites don;t give a crap about these lives destroyed.

Ronald Grünebaum

I see that the UK is really displaying a huge amount of good will – not. Petty and delusional at a time when the UK is massively holed below the waterline. Pissing off the Danes, Irish and Dutch is going to work out great when negotiating the mother of all trade deals.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 3:20 PM CET

D.J. Smith

Ronald Grünebaum

You’re “delusional”. I could care less about “pissing off” the Danes.

And by the way the IRELAND economy is totally dependent on UK goodwill. Not the other way around.

Nice to see you care about the lives of UK fisherman destroyed as our waters have been plundered by BIG FISHING — that is HUGE factory trawlers hovering up fish. They’re OUR territorial waters. Get used to it.

Given that GERMANY ALONE sells more than double to us what we sell to them, ask BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, et al how they feel about a massive tariff on their cars exported to the UK.

F1R5S4

YellowSubmarine

The EU has steadily increased the number of conditions on UK and this is the UK playing the same game. It is now another bargaining chip on the table in Brussels.

If EU continues to find things it must have then the UK will continue to find areas to use in it’s favour. It will go on until EU realises it is not creating a better negotiating position, just a more complex one.

We can go on for weeks playing this game. But who will blink first?

Posted on 7/2/17 | 5:08 PM CET

Jodocus5

Well, so much for Britain’s “We’re leaving the EU but we’re staying in Europe” party line. All that counts for exactly nothing. It’s just business. We should probably do well to remember that in the Brexit negotiations.

So, Ok, it will be British fishermen who haul up the nets and sell the catch (at market prices) to the EU. Painful for EU fishermen, but on the whole we can live with that. Good for you.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 5:26 PM CET

pivo

oh well, still 2 years of fishing in UK waters before heading to port… Time to increase fish farming in the EU.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 5:56 PM CET

Chrish

Sort of inevitable that the Uk would want to push ahead with some measures unilaterally after the EU decided they didn’t want single negotiations for trade and final settlement as well as pushing ahead unilaterally on issues like Eurosettlement and passporting. Only competely hypocrites from the EU side could complain.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 6:28 PM CET

MLB

It is remarkable I wrote a Decent Comment, and I am not from the UK
I came back here to see how the comment section would turn out during the day.
Is it just People who need to get some Steam off their heads in here?
@Justice Pirates? are you serious, So when UK expats retire in Spain they are Invading All the good resorts under British flag? Stupid.
@DJsmith Everything bad that has happened to the Common people like you and me are not EU´s fault all the time, Your politicians are more to blame than anyone in the EU. Globalization went out of control, stop pretending you alone have been hurt economically these last years.
And thank you for not caring about us here in Denmark, We will make sure to remember that when the new Trade route opens up near Greenland. And you will basically cut away 16% of the distance compared to now.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 7:05 PM CET

IrishPirate

D.J Smith is delusional, Ireland economy is far from dependent on UK Goodwill, maybe in the pre independence days of the Empire that many Brixiters appear to live in. In 2016 only 12.7% of Ireland exports went to the UK, the same figure as Ireland trade with Belgium. The UK has slipped from first to third as Ireland main export market since Ireland joined the EU. While not forgetting that the UK has its largest trade surplus in the EU with Ireland.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 8:00 PM CET

alan

@Elena

Thats the thing about fish, they never understood the EU disgards rules/policy & kept swimming into the wrong nets at the wrong times & in the wrong places…

Posted on 7/2/17 | 8:44 PM CET

F1R5S4

@Yellow Submarine: the UK will lose the staring contest and blink first.

the EU also can buy their fish from ireland, denmark, norway, sweden, france, the netherlands, the north sea states and the baltic sea. not to forget the mediterranean.

and most likely my beloved red snapper will continue not to be fished or farmed in the UK, methinks.

frankly, your thinking and understanding of economic processes appears to be rather simplicistic. a look at a map will show you that great britain happens not to be the only country in europe to have shores and to be bordering on a sea. even if the brits never again sold one single mackerel to the EU states, those would not need to give up on seafood.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 8:52 PM CET

wow

@F1R above

You call people simplistic but the whole EU will do this that the other whataboutery nonsense. They are all PRIVATE businesses. Private business are NOT ruled by you and we are not talking about nationalised industries, so not the EU or an EU country either. You are aware of that difference aren’t you?

You’re the one sounding simple to be honest.

Posted on 7/2/17 | 10:40 PM CET

Honest Dave

I’m loving comment section here. All posturing from keyboard warriors with little basis in any reality.

Truth is access to British waters has been a crucial point for many European fishing villages. The CFP has long been noted by being incredibly unfair and in need of reform.

On the hand the EU market is crucial to British fishermen.

But with the EU position of out is out. No cherry picking, and you cannot have your cake and eat it, we have got to realise that the barn door swings both ways.

Also love Barnier’s tweet. Clearly doesn’t have a grasp of the issue.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 12:03 AM CET

peter

This move while symbolic and welcome it is too little too late most of the british fishing industry has already been destroyed, the small coastal fishing communities have long been indecline unable to compete with industrial scale european fishing that wont reverse anytime soon.

It would be great to see a growth in the national fishing industry resulting in lower price fish on our plates and increase export revenues but i think it may already be too late for that.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 1:09 AM CET

FooFaFie

For me it’s all fine as long that the controles who enters the UK is done in the UK and not in France, Belgium, Netherlands, ….

Posted on 7/3/17 | 1:51 AM CET

Paradox

The level of the comments here really made my eyes watery from laughter.
Now replace brits and eu with two groups of monkeys, and replace fish with banana trees.
Yep.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:29 AM CET

Mc

Scotland has just 8.4% of the UK population but lands at its ports over 60% of the total catch in the UK. But these Brexiteers shout very loudly.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 9:29 AM CET

Stan

Well, the CFP has issues for sure but an undeniable fact is that under it fish stocks are in very rude health. The is an area where the EU members can be rightly proud of their policy even if it could do with a tweak here and there and continued cooperation is beneficial to all.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 10:28 AM CET

YellowSubmarine

@F1R5S4 “your thinking and understanding of economic processes appears to be rather simplicistic. a look at a map will show you that great britain happens not to be the only country in europe to have shores”

If no deal is reached then the UK could enforce its 200 mile limit or exclusive economic zone. It would not cover all waters in the north sea but it would restrict the catchment area for country’s like Norway, the Jutland coast and others.

They would then have to try and extract the same amount of fish from a smaller area without breaching EU overfishing rules. Something that would be impossible as quotas already reduce the amount of days boats can fish even with a bigger fisheries area.

So other nations bordering on UK 200 mile limit would have their catches significantly reduced. If EU fails to do a deal with UK it will have to subsidise the loss of fish caught for these fishermen.

This will fall under Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and as budgets for CAP is about to be cut, due to loss of UK contributions, then CFP could also see cuts. Resulting in no extra money to compensate EU fishing boats for loss of trade.

French farmers found out last week that the UK’s departure will cause a reduction in the CAP and are now making plans to protest the loss of subsides. Now the EU fishermen are demanding EU do a deal with UK to maintain access to UK waters.

Quote – Foreign affairs minister, Anders Samuelsen said “Denmark is hoping to sway Brussels into seeking a divorce deal which will allow its fleet of fishermen to continue to exploit the stock of cod, herring and mackerel in British waters.”

So, as I said earlier, this is all about matching new EU demands with more UK bargaining chips and who will blink first.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 2:04 PM CET

bony

The people of the United Kingdom will not stand for anything less than full territorial waters up to the full 200nm limit back..

Posted on 7/3/17 | 2:57 PM CET

bony

The London Fisheries Convention was not superseded as Barnier would have you believe. Nowhere in the commons fisheries policy does it declare the LFC void or overridden for that matter and more importantly in UK law.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:13 PM CET

bony

It is nowhere near enough for our government to look after the jobs of financers and insurance sectors without bringing back full control up to the full limits of British fishing territory.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:18 PM CET

bony

Gove is a machvelion character more truer to grimma wormtounge than Barnier ever could hope to be. He considers his command of English virtuism with nasalistic and plural sticking plaster to cover the lie ascends peoples ability to decipther clear commons sense statements of fact. Gove can never lead, he at heart is a liberal, a wet of the fold of Geoffrey Howe and Lord Soames. He’ll make the grade as a technician but from there it al goes down hill.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:32 PM CET

Vishnou

Let them claim control over migrants but moving the Calais border back to Dover.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:39 PM CET

Vishnou

@MGR: Exactly!!! Let them deal with the migrant fish on their island. 😉

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:44 PM CET

Vishnou

Many of those who comment here and vomit their “UK First” jargon are in urgent need of a shrink to set they minds back to normal functioning. Mind them: I doubt it would work.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:48 PM CET

Vishnou

I agree that Barnier’s English is definitely not impressive to say the least. So, how about, expressing yourselves properly in Molière’s language, Folks?

Posted on 7/3/17 | 3:51 PM CET

Deirdre Walsh

Ireland will be hugely affected by Brexit, the U.K. accounted for $19 billion dollars in exports to the UK & the UK exported $20 billion dollars in exports to Ireland last year. Ireland still owes the UK over £3 billion of the £14 billion the UK tax payers gave in a bailout. Agriculture & food processing crosses the Irish & British borders multiple times before completing the end product for sale, supply lines that are crucial. The U.K. Always stands in solidarity with Ireland when the EU tries to bully them on regulation and tax rates, pressure that Ireland will not be able to withstand without the UK’s support. Fisheries with access to British waters are a massive interest to Ireland, Spain, France & Germany. So to try and pretend Brexit is not a economic shock for Ireland or the rest of the EU, including the UK is pure fantasy. If the EU loses access to the City of London the impact on the economies of the remaining 27 would be devastating.

Posted on 7/3/17 | 6:52 PM CET

F1R5S4

@Vishnou
“I agree that Barnier’s English is definitely not impressive to say the least. So, how about, expressing yourselves properly in Molière’s language, Folks?”

i understood that throughout all negotiations / debates (and for all languages spoken) there will be several interpreters available – hence mister barniers limited vocabulary should not cause any problems. (i need to apologise – my qwerty keyboard does not provide french accents).

😉

Posted on 7/3/17 | 9:44 PM CET

Catesby

Barnier’s comment show that he is either a fool and has no understanding of these things or is just playing the normal EU game of obfuscation and belittling of others. The UK must leave the London Convention if it wants to claim its full entitlement under the later UN rules.

Posted on 7/4/17 | 12:43 AM CET

bluebell

@MLB
How can we not care about the Danes when 1 in 33 men in the UK have Viking blood (mainly in the North of England and Scotland). Indeed we have many descendants of european stock. If you look at the East of England it is filled with descendants of Angles and in the South of England it is the descendants of Saxons. We also have descendants of French protestants who fled after the Edict of Nantes. Ditto for Flemmings. We have many “Britalians” especially in Bedford and Glasgow and from further back we have the bloodlines of Roman soldiers who remained in the UK. All this in addition to the modern day arrivals.

Political manoeuvring should be seen for what it is – a game played by the elites – and not as peoples opposing peoples. You are welcome to share a fish supper with me at anytime.

Posted on 7/4/17 | 2:34 PM CET

Vishnou

@Ronald: A real delight to read your comments. So appropriate and right to the point. Congrats 😉

Posted on 7/4/17 | 7:02 PM CET

Vishnou

@F1R5S4: Right. What is your point exactly?

Posted on 7/4/17 | 7:05 PM CET

Lonely cod

@fishnou you really have got a lot to say about everything, try taking a breath dickwit !.
Or tell us what you think about sub letters in the tower fire, gone quiet on that subject yet have we ?.